Strange Bedpersons (Romance) [Hardcover]

Jennifer Crusie (Author)

Book Description

Series: Import HB | Publication Date: January 1, 2009

Tess Newhart knows her ex-boyfriend Nick Jamieson isn't the right guy for her. He's caviar and champagne; she's take-out Chinese pot stickers. He's an uptight Republican lawyer; she was raised in a commune and thinks Cinderella is politically incorrect. He wants to get ahead in business; she just wants…him—only not the social-climbing Nick, but the sweet, caring, unbuttoned-down Nick.

And Nick wants her, too, but there's no way Tess is about to play second fiddle to his obsession to make partner.

Yet somehow she finds herself agreeing to play his fiancée for a weekend business trip that could make or break Nick's career. And while he's wrapped up in convincing Tess that he needs her in his respectable world, Tess is doing her best to keep her left-wing opinions to herself and her hands off Nick.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Crusie seems incapable of writing a boring page or one that's not aglow with sparks of wit and romance." --Kirkus Reviews

"Crusie seems incapable of writing a boring page."
--Kirkus Reviews (Kirkus Review )

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of Tell Me Lies, Crazy for You, Welcome to Temptation, Faking It, Fast Women, and Bet Me. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: HQN Books (January 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373773528
• ISBN-13: 978-0373773527
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #919,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jennifer Crusie was researching her dissertation on the differences in the way men and women tell stories when she got sidetracked into writing romance novels.

Her first book was published in 1993 (which pretty much finished off any hope of her getting that PhD) and her twenty-second book, Maybe This Time, came out in August of 2010, all of which she considers a minor miracle, especially since she is also a New York Times, USA Today and Publisher's Weekly bestseller and a two-time Rita award winner.

Jenny is currently working on her new Liz Danger mystery series. She is a very happy woman.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still Works Well, June 11, 2002

By 

mayfayre "mayfayre" (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strange Bedpersons (Harlequin Temptation) (Paperback)

The characters in this story are a bit dated: he's a Republican yuppie lawyer aiming to be made a partner in his law firm, and she's a commune-raised, out-of-work, liberal educator. The book was published in 1994 so that explains it. But even so, this is another funny and entertaining book by Ms. Cruisie, with sharply drawn characters and crisp dialogue.

I intially wasn't drawn to Tess Newhart - she's in her mid-thirties and still living in a thrift-store-furnished apartment, getting involved with protests, etc. My first reaction was "grow up already". But the more I read the more I liked her and felt in sympathy with her. Nick Jamieson is more than the standard smooth-talking lawyer he appears to be, even if it seems as though making partner is his sole goal in life. There is some classic rapid-fire dialogue between Tess and Nick, and the "conversations" Nick has with his secretary Christine are worth the price of the book alone. Secondary plots concern an unsuitable romance between Tess and Nick's best friends (a retired chorus girl and a well-heeled partner in the law firm), and a possible case of literary plagerism.

Tess and Nick's relationship is both humorous and romantic, their sexual encounters are inventive and sensual, and the secondary characters round out the story nicely. This is a book worth finding.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A big disappointment, December 21, 2003

By 

Claretta (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strange Bedpersons (MIRA) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm a big fan of Jennifer Crusie's - I think Welcome to Temptation is one of the best romance novels ever - but this book really doesn't work, even allowing for the fact that it's rather dated. The plot is a mess and the characterisation is so unsubtle that after a while you want to scream: 'Okay, Jennifer, I got it! He's sexy but straightlaced, she's sexy but flaky ... you don't have to keep hammering the point home.' I was so bored with Strange Bedpersons that I found myself skipping bits of it -and I never thought I'd say that about a Crusie novel.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange BedPERSONS!!, June 5, 2004

By 

DevJohn01 (Somerset, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strange Bedpersons (MIRA) (Mass Market Paperback)

Having read a couple of Cruise's newer books such as `FAST WOMEN' and `FAKING IT' I decided that I wanted to read some of her earlier works so I purchased `STRANGE BEDPERSONS' and `MANHUNTING'. The writing styles of the latter are so different from those of the former it is almost hard to believe that the same person wrote them, however, while I wasn't thrilled with `MANHUNTING' I really enjoyed `STRANGE BEDPERSONS' despite the difference in style.

The relationship between Nick and Tess was endearing and it was fun watching these two completely opposite people develop a fling into something much more. I also enjoyed the relationship between the secondary characters Gina, Tess' best friend, and Park, Nick's colleague and long time friend. More over, I liked the fact that there was an actual story here, not just watching two people fall in love. I felt for Nick who was fighting to make partner in his law firm and the highly liberal Tess who was torn between the Nick she saw at home and Nick the social climber. I noticed that a lot of people gave this book poor reviews but, call me a sucker for a good "opposites attract" love story; I give it four stars!